Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Articles

In the coming weeks, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to propose regulations that would reform the market for Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), which are the "credits" EPA uses to ensure that refiners satisfy their obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Although the supposed purpose of these reforms is to "improve transparency" and limit volatility in RIN markets, the reforms under consideration would cause more harm than good. In fact, as NATSO's "RIN Market Volatility" Chart demonstrates, wild RIN price swings over the past several years have been caused by policy announcements, rumors, and news reports, rather than any underlying flaw in RIN markets themselves.

The New Year will usher in a new chapter of the Trump Administration that will have wide-ranging consequences for NATSO’s policy priorities. Here is an overview of NATSO’s top legislative issues and their outlook for 2019.

NATSO Vice President of Government Affairs David Fialkov is scheduled to testify Dec. 11 before a Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the discussion draft of the 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it will require 19.92 billion gallons of biofuel to be blended into the nation’s fuel system under its 2019 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). But in issuing the numbers, the agency failed to address NATSO’s concerns about its practice of issuing small refinery waivers that exempt small refineries from their obligations under the RFS — even small refineries that are owned by profitable refining entities such as Andeavor.

While infrastructure funding ranks among the top issues for truckstops and travel plaza operators, it’s just one of many issues in which NATSO will engage in 2018. Here’s an overview of the top NATSO issues that will be in play this year.

For more than a decade, the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program has sought to improve the emissions characteristics of fuel and support the domestic biofuels sector, while increasing American energy independence and security. The program calls for increasing volumes of renewable fuels—known as renewable volume obligations (RVOs)—to be blended into the nation’s transportation fuel supply every year.

Delia Moon Meier, owner and senior vice president of the Iowa 80 truckstop, recently applauded the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its recent decision to reject proposals to change the current compliance structure under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) as well as thanking Iowa Senator Joni Ernst for helping to lead that effort.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Nov. 22 rejected proposals to change the current compliance structure under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), ending a major push by merchant refiners and other obligated parties to shift what is commonly known as the point of obligation from refiners and importers to “rack sellers.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Nov. 1 submitted its proposed rule for the 2018 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations -- and 2019 obligations for biomass-based diesel -- to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for interagency review. This marks the final step before the proposal is published in the Federal Register and open for public comment.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Sept. 26 announced that it was seeking public comment on a new approach to establishing renewable fuel mandates under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): Only considering domestic production capacity. If EPA ultimately adopts this new approach, it will substantially lower retailers' incentives to incorporate renewable fuels into their fuel supply. NATSO opposes this policy shift, and in comments it will file with the Agency will urge EPA to recognize that there is a global market for renewable fuels, such as biodiesel, and that the RFS should accommodate fuels regardless of where they are produced.

On July 6, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed renewable volume obligations for 2018 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The proposal also includes a proposed 2019 volume mandate for biomass-based diesel (the 2018 biomass-based diesel number was finalized in late 2016). The proposal represents the Trump Administration’s first real public statement of policy with respect to the RFS, and was closely watched by NATSO and the rest of the fuels community.

A bipartisan group of 23 Senators asked the White House to keep the current compliance structure under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) arguing that changing it would undermine the intent of the program and lead to chaos in the marketplace.

As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) faces mounting pressure to reject petitions to change the current compliance structure under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), media coverage exploded last week amid the closing of EPA’s comment period claims that the White House struck a back room deal with the Renewable Fuels Association.

NATSO has learned that President Trump is likely to issue an Executive Order as early as today directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to shift compliance requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) downstream from the refinery to the terminal rack.

The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on Jan. 18 questioned Oklahoma Attorney General and EPA Administrator nominee Scott Pruitt for more than six hours in his confirmation hearing before the committee. The hearing touched on a wide range of environmental topics, including the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, ongoing efforts to change compliance responsibility under the RFS, and Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and trucks.

The trade associations representing America’s trucking fleets, drivers and railroads today urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reject petitions to move the point of compliance under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) arguing that doing so would disrupt the fuels market and raise consumer prices without added benefit to consumers or the RFS program.

A number of Republican Senators from states that produce renewable fuels met on Jan. 5 with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).